Darshan Shah Bags ET Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Media and Entertainment

How an Automated Visibility Platform Transitioned Fragmented Public Relations Work into a Recurring Revenue Cloud Model for Small Businesses

A homegrown tech leader has just pulled off a big national business trophy for changing how Indian companies share their news. Darshan Shah, the co-founder and head of the PR-tech company News Reach, was officially named ET Entrepreneur of the Year in the Media and Entertainment category. The big event took place at Mumbai's Sahara Star Hotel during the Economic Times Entrepreneur Awards, and it was a celebration of Shah’s success in turning old-school public relations into a more modern digital system.

A Fast Rise From Young Startup to Industry Winner

This big award marks another huge win for the first-generation business owner. Along with his co-founder Soniya Kundnani, Shah has also scaled his company from a small local media project into a massive, tech-driven business. A few major milestones in their journey include:

• The Forbes List: Landing a spot on the well-known Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list in 2022, for his creative marketing ideas.

• Big Media Backing: Obtaining financial investments from large media houses such as HT Media and Zee Media.

• Helping Smaller Towns: Building digital tools that help local news websites in smaller, rural Indian cities get noticed online.

Changing How Public Relations Works on the Ground

What really caught the judges' attention was how Shah stopped treating public relations like a slow, manual chore and turned it into an easy-to-use software platform. His technology helps young startups and big companies automatically push out their stories to hundreds of news sites at once. The judges had to check a bunch of strict things before picking him, including real company growth, fresh and distinct ideas, and also how much the platform actually supports local content creators.

Helping Brands Find Their Voice in a Crowded Market

The media founder truly believes that every growing business needs a fair shot at getting noticed online. When talking about why he started the company in the first place, Shah explained that having a clear digital presence is no longer optional for modern brands. Sharing his goals for the future, Shah stated, "Visibility is the new currency for businesses in the digital age. We built NewsReach to be the infrastructure layer through which brands, startups, and enterprises access every PR opportunity in India, and eventually across the Global South."

Giving Rural Writers a Chance to Shine Online

By creating smart digital tools for local publishers, the company is finally closing the gap between small-town writers and big-budget advertising brands. This tech-first approach shows other media companies how to grow sustainably without losing that personal, local touch. According to CIO Bulletin, this national business award proves that the future of media belongs to platforms that can mix local culture with smart software, setting a brand-new standard for how news is shared and funded across the country.